Wednesday, May 19, 2010

Stress stress stress

I thought surgery was stressful. Today, I did something that made me sweat and tremble.

I trellised my cukes, squash, and added support to my tomatoes. PHEW. Talk about stressful. And yes, I am serious.

It's no secret that I am a total noob to the world of gardening. I'm learning as I go. Let me share what I have learned thus far:

1) Cucumbers and squash really like to grow here. If left to their own devices, they will grow out of the garden, along the ground, and start to invade the neighbor's fence. Give your cukes and squash a trellis! They will also out-compete nearby plants. I had to trellis the vines today, because the red peppers had disappeared under the huge cuke/squash leaves (you can see this in the picture up there). Do it early, before the leaves and stems are huge, or else you're going to be messing with adult plants and breaking stems and freaking yourself out.

2) Tomatoes really like to grow here, as well. They need support...and measly green plastic sticks ain't gonna do it. Not when your tomatoes are 3.5 feet high. Stake your tomatoes EARLY. If you do it late - when they are huge, it's stressful. When I got to the last of my 3 Big Boy tomato plants, I was wracked with fear. This was (is) Steve the tomato's bush, and I was terrified to disturb it. Alas, I think all went well.

3) I used a mix of potting soil, topsoil, and composted mulch. The potting soil and topsoil were 50/50 - with a thin layer of composted manure on top. It is a rich, dark soil, and the plants are thriving.

As for an update on the garden, I have counted a half dozen or more baby tomatoes. Steve continues to be an overachiever. He is fat and plump. I've decided that I might not eat him. He's working so darned hard at growing, and I feel that my plants are going to thrive. So I might grant him a pardon. On the other hand, I don't want to see him descend into rot and dissolution, so he might be salad garnish...

A few people have asked me where I got the name Steve...so I will send you to this website. I warn you, if you read this, you might laugh so hard you'll lose bladder control.

In other news, I baked 3 loaves of bread yesterday in preparation for my mom and grandparents coming to stay on Friday. I have to work all weekend, but it's the daytime shift, so I will get to be social at night thankfully.

The pictures of my Sennie are what she was doing while I was bread baking. She kept me company.

Back to work tonight. Some interesting veterinary stuff will likely come your way shortly.

5 comments:

This is so helpful, thanks! I'm starting a garden this year for the first time and I had no idea that you can attach squash to a trellis. I live in Utah and we are probably two months behind your growing season so I'm really happy to learn these facts in advance.

Some people suggest using pantyhose to tie the squash/cukes to the trellis - it stretches as they grew and doesn't impede them. I used plant training wire - but loosely, to give the plants room to expand.

DISCLAIMER

Any similarity between my stories and any person or animal, living or dead, is strictly a coincidence. Names, breeds, sexes, and details of the stories have been changed to protect the guilty and innocent alike.

About Me

I am an emergency veterinarian in North Carolina. Despite the crazy people I deal with, the awful cases of injured and sick animals, and the overall stress of emergency work, I absolutely love what I do. Happily married since I was 20, I have a wonderful husband who has a PhD in Mathematics, and a daughter around whom our world currently revolves. We also have a zoo living in our house that can be alternately wonderful and maddening. There are cats, parrots, and a dog who is very low on the totem pole. Our days are never dull and we are learning to balance the demands of work and family.
If you'd like to contact me: homelessparrot@gmail.com

Human gross-ness

Followers

Medical terminology

Lactate - a salt/ester of lactic acid that is produced as energy for a cell when oxygen levels are low. In critically ill animals, elevated lactate can be an indicator of inadequate blood flow to organs (perfusion), decreased delivery of oxygen, and/or decreased oxygen uptake. Values > 6-7 are usually considered to be poor prognostic indicators for survival.

GI sloughing: when the cells lining the GI tract die (can be secondary to MANY things, including heatstroke) with resulting bloody diarrhea, bacterial translocation into the bloodstream and sepsis

TTJ: transfer to jesus: code for when an animal needs to be euthanized or die

DIC: disseminated intravascular coagulation: a very, very bad thing - when the hemostatic system gets out of whack, and clots start forming in the blood vessels until all clotting factors are wasted. once those are gone, internal hemorrhage ensues, followed by death, usually. also known as "death is coming"

Pleural effusion - fluid contained in the pleural space (chest) - this is not the same as fluid in the lungs (see pulm edema) - in cats can be caused by infection in the chest, heart failure, cancer, FIP, feline leukemia, FIV, and in some cases, the cause is never found (idiopathic)

Anisocoria - unequal pupil size (related to any number of causes including brain damage/head trauma)

Sepsis - refers to a bacterial infection in the bloodstream or body tissues. This is a very broad term covering the presence of many types of microscopic disease-causing organisms.

Nephrectomy - kidney removal

Splenectomy - removal of spleen

Pulmonary edema - condition in which fluid accumulates in the lungs, usually because the heart's left ventricle does not pump adequately ( can be caused by heart failure, electrocution, drowning, too many IV fluids, to name a few)

Tick borne diseases - any of a myriad of diseases transmitted by ticks - including but not limited to Rocky Mtn Spotted fever, Lyme disease, Ehrlichia

Fine needle aspirate - A method of sampling in which a needle is used to suck in cells or tissue bits for diagnoses (good for diagnosing masses/lumps)

Blood glucose - The principal sugar produced by the body from food–especially carbohydrates, but also from proteins and fats; glucose is the body's major source of energy, is transported to cells via the circulation and used by cells in the presence of insulin (normal range in a dog/cat is 75-100)

Diseases I see/treat frequently

Dystocia - difficulty birthing. May be responsive to oxytocin administration (Pitocin, as in people) but may require c-section.

DKA - diabetic ketoacidosis: the extreme end of the diabetic scale. A patient that is diabetic can develop DKA when other diseases make the blood glucose hard to regulate. Other diseases that are commonly associated include urinary tract infection, pancreatitis, pyometra, skin infection, and cancer. In DKA, the body starts metabolizing fat and producing acids that cause a drop in blood pH, nausea, weakness, severe dehydration, electrolyte derangments, and death.

DCM - dilated cardiomyopathy: an idiopathic (cause unknown) cardiac disease in which the heart chambers become very thin/dilated, and cardiac output drops radically. Causes arrhythmias, tachycardia, and sudden death. Seen in large breed dogs like Dobermans, Great Danes, etc.

Lymphoma - cancer of the white blood cells, the most common and treatable form of cancer in dogs

Blocked cat - slang term for a male cat with a plug of mucus and crystals obstructing the urethra (fairly common in male cats) definitely a life-threatening because urine can't get out of the body! If present long enough, causes shock, acute renal failure, hyperkalemia (elevated potassium), coma, and death. Symptoms include straining in the litterbox, yowling while trying to urinate, producing small, bloody drops of urine (also symptoms of feline cystitis, a non-lethal condition)

GDV - stands for gastric-dilatation and volvulus - a condition of large breed, deep-chested dogs (usually) in which the stomach rotates 180 degrees on its axis and thus - nothing can enter or leave, considered the "mother of all emergencies" - it warrants immediate surgery and carries a guarded prognosis

IMHA - immune-mediated hemolytic anemia. A disease in which the immune system attacks the red blood cells and destroys them. It causes profound anemia and is life-threatening. Causes are primary (no known cause) and secondary ( tick borne disease, cancer, and heavy metal intoxication). Treatment is immunosuppression with drugs primarily. Prognosis is guarded at best.